What's in a name
by Rowan Rosethorne
Summary: When your past and present collide, old rivalries are forgotten and new emotions take place. Can love really bloom between two rivals? And what does a man do when he finds his sworn enemy has followed him to the next life and is ready to stir up trouble?


**Disclaimer:** Fushigi Yuugi, its characters, the universe of the four gods and all other related concepts are property of Yuu Watase. The author intends no copyright infringement. Only the plot belongs to me and I would appreciate it if people ask first before borrowing it.

**Summary**: Taka realized that when you've lost everything you hold dear, the sudden appearance of a familiar soul is a welcome development. However, memories of the past are now left behind and unexpected emotions sprout. Things heat up further when an old rival turns up and bring with him startling revelations that came with his reincarnated life.

**Author's Notes:** This story occurred a couple of months after the OVA where in Miaka gave birth to Taka's child. This story contains slash/yaoi and the pairings are still secret. However, I think that it will be a bit obvious when the first chapter is posted. Please read and review. Thanks!!!

_One doesn't recognize in one's life the really important moments—until it's too late._

-**Agatha Christie**

**Prologue**

Eyes that were once filled with mirth are now nothing but a pair of dulled orbs, their glimmers now long gone. He was a lifeless marionette, a lonely puppet following the monotonous pattern of shuffling feet and moving limbs; a doll controlled by the cruel strings of fate. With an audible click of the door, Taka Tsukanami once again locked his self inside his own world; a world filled with childish laughter and playful memories.

For the past few weeks, life has been very tough on the teal-haired reincarnated Suzaku seishi. He knows that his family and friends are concerned about him insisting on cooping his self inside the four walls of his apartment. For the life of him though, Taka just couldn't find it inside himself to give a damn about how the world went on revolving outside his very door.

Keisuke Yuki visits him every other day, each of which was spent urging him to get a hold of himself. On one hand, he is glad and thankful for the companionship that the blonde provides. On the other, a shiver runs up and down his spine every time he gazes at that familiar face that looks so much like her.

He looks a Keisuke but sees another pair of eyes staring back at him. It's bittersweet, he thinks. To be able to see her gazing back at him for a moment yet to realize at the very next second that it cannot be, that it is not possible, not anymore. Then the sweet tang of euphoria leaves him and bitterness together to dance in an endless waltz of sorrow and pain.

The strain of the haunting melody then slowly retreats but doesn't take the bitterness with it. Instead, with the departure of the echoes of grief and anguish, he is left alone in the company of bitterness as they went on dicing in an endless waltz. At first he tries to lead but quickly learns that bitterness is too powerful to be completely reigned in. And with that realization, he allows it to dictate the pace of their unending dance.

The beat, the unheard beat, of the dance increase in speed. He tries to regain control, to ordain the steps in their duets of moving feet but he takes a step too slow, falters and stumbles. Bitterness caught him before he could fall. That is when he remembers and decides that it no longer matters. Therefore, instead of fighting for dominance, he embraces the role of the subservient partner and took comfort in the act of embracing it.

Finally, when the last strain of unheard melody was played, he allows himself to feel. That's when every fiber of his being begins to sing a song that glorifies the bitterness he feels; bitterness to Keisuke for looking so much like her but not being her, to his family and friends because even though they meant well, and beneath the fog that has settled on his rational mind, Taka knew that they did, it was all too soon and still too painful. Most of all though, Taka glorified on the bitterness that he feels towards the world that dared to go on revolving; the world that acted as if nothing has passes, as if everything is the way as it should be.

The world that his beloved Suzaku no Miko Miaka, and their precious guiding light Hikari no longer lived in.


End file.
